Broken Melody
by Stargazer at Moonlight
Summary: Five times that Blaster left Soundwave and one time that Soundwave did not take him back.
1. Career Furthering

Soundwave puttered around the small apartment on his off-cycle, cleaning up after his and his partner's young symbionts. He had allowed them to play with youngling-friendly paints earlier and had been left with a mess when they had finished and demanded a bath. If they had been mini-mechs, it was unlikely they would have done so, but being animal-framed meant that they were more particular about anything near their joints. They had finally decided to bed down not long before, which he was grateful for as it left him alone with his thoughts. The time he had available for that was becoming less and less with a recent addition to their small host of symbionts and his recent promotion to the Head of the department. He kept long joors anymore and almost regretted the fact.

The door to the apartment slid open near soundlessly to admit his long-term sparkmate. He turned a grin on the red and yellow mech before finishing the quick clean and tossing the rags in the small basket they were kept in. "Query: energon?"

"Yeah. Thanks," his sparkmate said dismissively, allowing his frame to flop back on the couch.

"Query: something troubling Blaster?" he asked a short klik later as he returned with the cube of energon and handed it to the DJ.

"Oh, no. Nothing special. I'm just trying to figure out tha logistics of tha move ta Kalis for the next half vorn." He drank half the cube in one long swallow before continuing. "I got an offach that I can't turn down since it's gonna set mah designation highest in tha industry. I'm sure ya don't mind, do ya, Sounders?"

"Soundwave: unaware of agreement," he stated with a frown as he looked at his sparkmate.

Blaster glared at him for a long moment before tossing back the rest of his cube and quickly standing. "Well if ya don't wanna support me movin' up, then ya can jus' 'charge out 'ere on tha couch! I'm leavin' when I get up this comin' light cycle so ya can jus' wait 'til then ta have tha place ta yaself!" He threw the empty cube at the blue mech and stormed back to their berth room, leaving Soundwave staring after him in blatant shock and confusion.

"Soundwave: only meant that Soundwave was not asked," he whispered, monotone falling too flat to convey what he was actually feeling to the otherwise empty room. "Assumptions: made. Full information: unknown."

With a deep sigh, he moved to the larger couch and pulled the blanket from the back to drape over his frame. Perhaps he could fix the damage at the beginning of the light cycle before he had to leave for work and before Blaster left for this job opportunity. He sighed deeply, releasing as much tension as he could as he slipped towards recharge. After all, he had never understood the other's determination to have his designation known across the entirety of Cybertron and its moons, even as far out as only recently explored space.

What he was unaware of was that the red and yellow mech would be gone before he cycled up the next light cycle and that he had been determined to leave Soundwave behind. He would find that the Kalis contract had been accepted deca-orns before and negotiations had just ended, which was the reason Blaster was leaving then. He would not even look back on his way out of the apartment.


	2. A Wandering Optic

The only reason that he had even left their apartment that dark cycle was because his sparkmate had requested his presence down at the club he was hired to DJ for. If it had been anyone else, he would have told them a flat out 'no', but it had been made by the one mech he rarely wanted to disagree with. That left him slipping past the bouncer on duty that shift, Blitzwing, with a thankful nod that that was acknowledged with a grin. Once inside, he made his way quickly over to the bar to claim a stool. Firestar set a cube down in front of him without even asking for his order.

"So what brings you here, Soundwave? I know ya have to be lookin' forward to getting' some recharge after closin' that deal earlier." Her optics narrowed. "Don't tell me he called ya down 'gain!"

Instead of answering, he sipped the mercury-infused brew, slowly stirring the rust stick as he set it back on the bar top. He did not even react to her knowing far more about his life than she should have. Inferno, her sparkmate, worked as security for the company he represented and so was privy to most of his cycles that were spent there, usually in his office or in a conference room.

She voiced a short cry of frustration. "Start tellin' 'im 'no' already! He needs ta understand that he can't walk all over you!"

"An' this is a request from a special mech, mah frien's!" Blaster's voice exclaimed, cutting through the sound of the club and pulling all attention to his box where he stood with an arm wrapped almost possessively around a blue and red Praxian mech. "Be sure ta thank 'im for tha beat yer 'bout ta have comin' at ya!"

They watched as, before he switched out the music, he initiated a strut melting, glossa twisting kiss. It looked like something he had never experienced with his sparkmate and here was this mech that none of them knew and who was most likely travelling through getting something he had only dreamed of. Even after taking him back after the whole Kalis episode, he had not been sure if he had done something wrong or not. _This_ threw _that_ theory out the proverbial window. From a hundred floors up. And with as much force as possible.

"Slag, is that one cruel mech!" the bartender growled, her engine revving in her anger. "Here, finish your drink." She nudged the cube closer to the Head of Acquisitions. "I'll get ya another one."

Firestar rushed to do just that to try to distract him from what had to be murderous thoughts. The fragger deserved it, but she _liked_ it when Soundwave came in as he never tried to get under her plating and allowed her to talk _at_ him as she did her job. She did not want to lose that even though the DJ needed to have his aft handed to him for leaving the blue mech like that.


	3. Heated Arguments

"What in frag were you thinking?" Soundwave growled, pushing past his damaged vocalizer to speak more normally. It was extremely painful, but doing so got his point across better than his usual monotone. "You call me down there just to go home with _someone else?"_

"Why not?" Blaster asked, his tone pointed and sharp. "I got some decent 'facing out of it, which I wouldn't've if I'd've come home with ya!"

"You have never complained before!"

"Yeah, well, ya're too fraggin' demandin' in tha berth! Ya don't want normal 'facin' and ya don't wanna evah spike meh! And that voice! It's 'orrible in tha berth!" His face morphed to show his disgust, what he thought of his berthmate. "And don't even get meh started on tha whole subservient act! It's just plain disgustin'. I don't want no slave and I don't want ta be treated like yer one!"

"I am _not_ a slave and I do _not_ act like one! It is called being _nice_! As for not meeting your expectations in the berth, you have never even hinted as to what you wanted there! Plus! You have known about my voice for vorns! That is absolutely _no excuse!"_

"I also know that ya can get anothah vocalizer put in so ya could speak normal. Ya jus' don't wanna because ya don't wanna please meh!"

"You just do not want to understand that the only vocalizer they have that fits my connectors is a femme vocalizer. I _refuse_ to subject myself to that!" He laughed harshly. "You complain about a subservient nature from me and then that I _do not please _you? Does that not seem backwards to you?"

Blaster threw his hands up, too angry to respond verbally, and stormed out the door. As soon as the door had shut behind him, Soundwave collapsed onto the couch and buried his helm in his hands as he cried. A small muzzle touched his knee as his flight capable symbiont landed on the couch arm.

"Don't cry, Soundwave," Laserbeak begged, clicking at him in attempted comfort, his small helm stretching out to bump against an audial.

"Yeah," Ravage agreed, nudging at the blue mech's arm to prompt him into petting her, especially if he was going to scratch behind her ears. "Come on, Soundwave. Please? It makes us sad too."

He silently obliged her push for attention, scratching along the underside of her jaw before reaching her ears. Her purr vibrated through both of their frames at the touch. Laserbeak continued her ministrations, tracing all of his seams that she could reach in an attempt at comfort through something she knew – grooming.


	4. Going Out Regardless

"Blaster: join Soundwave in watching Connections?" It was a game similar to what humans would call Chain Reaction many millennia from then and one that Soundwave found more than a little enjoyment in.

"Naw. I promised some friends I'd join 'em at tha club."

He looked over the back of the couch at the red and yellow mech with a slight frown. "Off-cycle: spent out?"

"Yeah. Me and Steelie are goin' tat ha new one that just recently opened. I think several of tha mechs I work with are s'posed ta be there. Ya probably wouldn't care ta go. Not really yer scene, ya know." He finished buffing his shoulder and tossed the cloth in the basket. "I dunno when I'll be back so don't bother waiting up for me."

As Blaster left, Soundwave turned back to his show, his field radiating his distress. The other carrier had not spent any significant length of time with him for far too long. There was very little keeping him tied to even the apartment anymore as he had begun packing everything away a while ago to accommodate his sparkmate's desires. Everywhere he looked was the sign of Blaster's presence. At one time his had also been as prevalent.


	5. White Liar

"And this is where I live," Blaster stated as he opened the door to his apartment to show off to his Kalisian sparkmate. He stopped mid-step as he was greeted by Soundwave, who was supposed to be on assignment in Iacon and looking for some new talent. It was not like he would know it when he heard it as he had never tried to sign Blaster for the label when he knew good and well what Blaster produced was good – better than some of those he _had_ signed. He forgot to take into account the fact that it would look like favoritism if Soundwave's label did, but he would not have cared anyway.

"Oh, and are ya Blaster's roommate?" the black and white he had been showing around asked, moving forward with a smile and a hand outstretched in a traditional greeting. "He's tol' meh a bit 'bout ya. Ya've signed some real good mecha for ya label."

"Negative. Soundwave: Blaster's sparkmate." He glared at the red and yellow mech before turning to the Kalisian. "Soundwave: thanks you. Compliments: appreciated. Warning: Blaster always unfaithful."


	6. Hardened Resolve

"Come on, Soundwave! Please let me in!"

The begging and pleading was getting old quickly. That he had continued for such a length of time was even more pathetic. Apparently Blaster knew what he had been doing for him and was missing the ease of living. It also meant that his sparkmate had left him, which was not all that surprising since he was one of the most unfaithful mechs he had ever encountered.

Firestar growled her annoyance at hearing the idiot, as she had taken to calling him not long before. "Can't he take a slaggin' hint ta leave ya tha Pit alone?"

"You would think," he answered, sipping his cube as he lounged on her couch across from the red and gold femme where she was curled into her sparkmate's side. "Summon: Enforcers?"

She lit up in excitement. "Can we? That would be _so_ much fun! You could even bring him up on harassment and stalking charges!"

Inferno chuckled as he shifted slightly in his seat. "Ya just wanna see the energon fly, femme. If'n ya had less of a lust for it, ya might get a promotion from bartender."

"Ah, that's fine. I enjoy the job. However! I think ya should charge 'im!"

"Soundwave! We need ta talk!"

The carrier rolled his optics before shouting, "Soundwave: done. Blaster: unwanted."

"Don't say that, sweetspark!"

He rolled his optics again as he lifted his hand to his comm. array and activated it, calling the emergency line for the Enforcer station.

/Hello?/

"My ex-sparkmate is at the door of my friend's apartment and attempting to gain entry. He has been stalking me almost since I broke off the relationship."

/Address?/

He rattled it off quickly and was told to stay on the line until the Enforcers arrived to take the mech away. During that time he was required to answer several other questions for a more complete report that consisted of the length of time the events he was describing had been taking place, how many other mecha had been affected, if he felt safe, if he felt threatened, and basics such as his designation. Before long they heard the sounds of a struggle outside their door and rather incoherent shouting as Blaster raged.

Firestar giggled and held out a hand for a high five that Soundwave happily obliged her with. "Go Soundwave! Ya gotta back strut after all this time!"


End file.
